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Powering LED Lighting for Horticulture Lowering Costs and Improving Results with the Right Power Supply for Your Horticultural Lighting

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Powering LED Lighting for Horticulture Lowering Costs and Improving Results with the Right Power Supply for Your Horticultural Lighting Powering LED Lighting for Horticulture Lowering costs and improving results with the right power supply for your horticultural lighting Introduction The rapid growth in the use of LED lighting for horticulture and floriculture has been a driver in the power supply industry. Lighting makers and growers are not typically specialists in power management, so experts at Advanced Energy's Artesyn Embedded Power have created this white paper to Table of Contents provide the information needed to define a power strategy that could have a significant impact on capital and operating Types of Horticultural Lighting 2 expenses for greenhouses, and indoor and vertical farmers. Applications 3 Powering Horticultural Lighting 4 Application examples and financial models included in the Power Architecture Examples paper provide you with the background you need to select Using Artesyn Power Supplies 5 the right power strategy for your application or installation. Application Example: Large warehouse farm requires 126.3 KW of LED luminaires 6 Innovative Modular and Scalable Power Solutions 7 ©2020 Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. POWERING LED LIGHTING FOR HORTICULTURE The use of LED technology in horticultural Less radiated heat: LED lights operate cooler lighting systems is playing a fundamental role than traditional HPS bulbs so can be placed in cutting-edge farming and growing practices closer to plants, resulting in more dense farms. that are increasingly seen as a potential way This also lowers water consumption. of addressing production challenges for food, Life cycle savings: LED luminaires pharmaceutical ingredients, plants and flowers. typically have a longer lifetime, lower energy LED-based horticultural lighting is one of the consumption and lower maintenance costs largest and fastest growing markets. than traditional horticultural lighting options Lighting for horticulture is quite distinct from other The benefits outlined above combine to make LED lighting applications. Light, in the wavelengths lighting the ideal choice for supplemental lighting useful for horticulture, is called photo-synthetically in greenhouses as well as vertical and indoor farms active radiation (PAR) and falls within the that depend on artificial light. 400-700nm range. Photosynthetic Photon Flux, or PPF, measures the total amount of PAR photons generated by a Market Drivers luminaire. A higher PPF means the lighting system Population growth and limited is more efficient at creating PAR. availability of agricultural land As researchers continue to establish the impact of Ability to grow a steady supply of crops specific wavelengths of light on different plants and regardless of weather conditions stages of growth, broad-spectrum sources such as Increased, higher-quality yield high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps, popularly used Government initiatives in greenhouses, are being outperformed by LED lights due to their flexibility in producing different Legalization of cannabis for medicinal PAR wavelengths. and recreational purposes Technical advances in LED technology Other compelling benefits of LED lights for horticulture include: Source: 2018 Horticulture Lighting Report by MarketsandMarkets Research Spectral output control: LED lights offer greater control over the light output across different wavelengths, so growers can more closely match spectra to the needs of their TYPES OF HORTICUltURAL LIGHTING plants, plus their luminosity can be adjusted to manage production depending on plant Top lighting – greenhouses species and growth stage. Illumination of the hall and plants from More precise targeting: The availability ceiling level of smaller LED lights improves control over Retrofitting old HPS, modifying spectral where the light goes, increasing efficiency and content of light reducing energy consumption. 2 advancedenergy.com POWERING LED LIGHTING FOR HORTICULTURE Challenges: light concentration on plants, uniformity and constant quality of light spectrum, high amount of power needed Top lighting – vertical farming Illumination from top of the plants at close distance Challenges: uniform intensity and spectral distribution, plants shading each other, photosynthetic efficiency (PPF/W), heat New types of farming are poised to lead the future Intra-canopy growth of the industry, such as indoor and vertical Illumination on the side or in between the farming. Whereas greenhouses mainly use LEDs in plants addition to the sun, indoor and vertical farming use LED fixtures as the primary or sole light source. Possible with LEDs (HPS too hot) Challenges: uniform PPFD, good color Indoor farming uniformity (if continuous/wide spectrum), Indoor farming covers a variety of growing spectrum fit to the rest of lighting, light direction techniques, including horizontal flood trays to vertical towers, warehouses to basements, ApplicatiONS and micro-greens to heirloom tomatoes. Indoor farms depend on artificial light and are mostly Traditional greenhouses have been the primary hydroponic, aeroponic, and/or aquaponic, which is adopters of horticultural LED lighting for many one of the reasons why this type of facility uses less years, typically supplementing natural light. LED resources. lighting supplementing natural light in large greenhouses or ‘growing warehouses’ improves Even though it needs to be set up entirely with control over the nutrient balance and growth cycle horticultural lighting, which increases the initial of a wide range of plants. CAPEX investment, operational cost is relatively low thanks to reduced irrigation, chemical and For example, Artesyn is working with a labor expenses. Using LED-based grow lights manufacturer of agricultural LED lights that is using brings down the cost even further. the LCC600 600-watt series conduction cooled AC-DC power supplies for their market-leading Vertical farming full-spectrum LED grow light. With vertical farms, shipping containers or similar The company has been able to create an IP65 structures are used to house shelves of plants, rated light for use in wet and humid conditions that with lighting and nutrients supplied and carefully saves over 40% on energy costs versus competing controlled to manage the growth of the crop. solutions and produces less heat than most of its Advocates of this type of agriculture argue that competitors. this method of growing crops can be done closer advancedenergy.com 3 POWERING LED LIGHTING FOR HORTICULTURE to consumers (reducing food miles), without POWERING HORTICUltURAL LIGHTING pesticides or other chemicals thanks to the A survey by the Lighting Research Center (LRC) contained environment, and using less water than found that the majority of growers did not know conventional outdoor agriculture. their monthly electrical costs for lighting. 64% of One pioneering creator of vertical farming solutions growers reported that they pay a flat energy rate has adopted Artesyn’s iHP series configurable or a combination rate (energy rate and demand digital high power system to provide the DC power charges) for their electricity. 20% of growers did not for their custom-engineered horticultural LED know how they were billed for electricity. lights. These provide specific photon wavelengths Source: The Lighting Research Center (LRC) and intensity, enabling the customer to create customized “light recipes” for each crop. For individual luminaires and lower power applications (ranging from 300 W to 3000 W), the key criteria are size and weight for a given power rating. Heavier and larger power supplies require more substantial and therefore more expensive rigging, usually from the ceiling of the greenhouse. With large farms, the use of individual luminaires is not efficient. The added complexity of individual control systems on each luminaire and the additional cabling required adds to the installation costs. Furthermore, the additional thermal management needed (air conditioning) as a result The iHP series provides up to 24 kW in 3 kW of the collective conversion/heat losses from the increments and can be configured for up to 8 drivers adds to growers’ energy costs. outputs using a wide variety of plug-in modules that address a large range of voltages and currents. It Using a large centralized current source outside provides the user with analog and digital control the environmentally controlled growth areas and as either a programmable voltage or current source. distributing power directly to all the luminaires can help eliminate the need for individual drivers and Using up to 99% less water, no pesticides or the associated costs. herbicides, reducing food miles by up to 93%, and having unrivalled control over the crops means Another consideration for growers is Total that vertical farming may be the future for many Harmonic Distortion (THD). communities around the world and off the planet. 4 advancedenergy.com POWERING LED LIGHTING FOR HORTICULTURE Total harmonic distortion is a measurement of how much of the distortion of a voltage or current is due Hydroponic, Aeroponic, to harmonics in the signal. A lower THD typically Aquaponic means higher power factor, lower peak currents and higher efficiency - all of which are desirable in a Hydroponics is defined as the power system and beneficial to the application. cultivation of plants in water. No soil is used in hydroponic gardening, but in Many of utility companies now use smart meters some cases a different medium is used to measure THD and, depending on the level, will as a place for the roots to grow and set billing
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